For Jordan

So many things have gone through my head today that I wanted to write about, but first I have to start by remembering that 2 weeks ago today we said goodbye to our beloved 14 year old puppy Jordan. Chris & I talked about that today, for the first time this trip. For those that knew Jordan, you knew how much she meant to us, but more importantly Jordan shared every moment of our preparations for the last 2 years to get to the start line of Pacific Cup. She was always our cheerleader in the way only a dog can be. Today is for you Jordan. Watch over us and guide us safely to Kaneohe. Be sweet my little pup. Be sweet.

Pretty good day out on the water. Definitely warmer and the waves are much more in synch with the winds. You know those are keys to the fun part of sailing to Hawaii. We’ve had the Code 0 up since yesterday evening. A lot of that time with a reef as we are stil beam reaching pretty hard. The wind shifted nicely throughout the day yesterday, but since last evening it has steady pretty steady between 10 and 20 degrees and 15-20 knots. Spadefoot loves the puffs above 20 and a nice wave. Then we just take off for 10 seconds of joyous surfing. And we’ve haven’t even cracked off and put of the big A2 yet. I guess the High is moving west with us, so we are having a hard time getting underneath it and into the northeasterlies.

We had a good day of 193 miles, but that was pretty ordinary compared to the fleet. We are further south than intended and I think our breeze is lighter at times than up north, and/or we are reaching a bit closer to the wind, but the models want us to go west right, not south.

We are still doing 1 hour on / 1 hour off and I must say, it is working just fine. An hour is about all we can take at the tiller as it is a serious workout reaching. I don’t think this is Spadefoot’s strong point of sail. Definitely easier to steer as we crack off a bit more. Looking forward to the second half of the course.

Yesterday was clean up and dry out day. The inside of the boat is now pretty tidy. Still getting some water down the mast, but otherwise not much water on deck or down below. The Fat Boy bean bag we brought is just amazing. We are both sleeping on it right in the middle of the cabin and it is super comfortable. Best boat bed I’ve ever had.

Did you know those hand warmer packets are full of powdered metal? We know that now, unfortunately. After Chris used one, it got wet, so I squeezed it to squeeze out the water before throwing it away and it exploded into the cockpit and an immediate rust orgy adorned cockpit. An impressive amount of rust staining, actually. Damn.

GPS says 1526nm to go. This has been a lot faster than 2014, so far.

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